The present invention relates to a semiconductor device and a process for producing the same. More particularly, the present invention pertains to a technique which may effectively be applied to, for example, a semiconductor pellet incorporated in an IC card and a method of mounting the same.
The semiconductor pellet mounting technique by the TAB (Tape Automated Bonding) method (i.e., tape carrier method) is described in "IC Packaging Technique" (edited by Japan Microelectronics Association) published by Kabushiki Kaisha Kogyo Chosakai, Jan. 15, 1980. pp. 143 to 144. This literature explains methods of mounting semiconductor pellets (hereinafter referred to simply as "pellets"), supplied by the TAB method and each having an integrated circuit fabricated thereon, in face-up and face-down manners, respectively by way of drawings.
The present inventor examined techniques for mounting semiconductor pellets each having an integrated circuit fabricated thereon.
More specifically, pellets are generally mounted on wiring substrates having external connecting terminals according to either one of the following two methods, that is, the so-called face-down method wherein a pellet is disposed in such a manner that the surface thereof on which are formed bonding pad electrodes faces the surface of a wiring substrate, the bonding pad electrodes being provided for connection with external wiring terminals formed on the surface of the wiring substrate, or the so-called face-up method wherein a pellet is disposed in such a manner that its reverse surface faces the surface of a wiring substrate.